![]() ![]() General Fai has a place close to my heart because he has one important advantage that most generals don’t – his advantages kick in almost right away. Granger has his weaknesses, but overall is a blast to play and is one of my personal favorites. Stealth Commanches, Advanced Patriots and Pathfinders are the key to making advances and keeping them, and in addition his abundant bomb-raining General Powers and Airborne Troops not subject to AA make this endeavor not only possible but fun. Against Generals that repair very quickly and have potent AA (Leang and Thrax come to mind) you can bomb them all day and night and not make any progress, and this can turn to irritation as your land forces are mediocre and can rarely hold the line even with air support. What keeps him from the top spot over Townes is simply his ability to finish the game. General Granger brings a very unique style to the game and his use of first strike oriented air units makes him really fun to play. He also possesses something that the other GLA generals lack completely in his moderately effective air units (Desert Flies are kind of odd, but Rocket Hinds can be really good). Hornet’s Nests (excellent anti-ground), Flash RPG Troopers (Rapid Fire Rockets can save you in many situations), Junk Repair base, Marauder Tank base, Basilisks (combined with Tunnels and Surprise Attack), Katyusha Rockets (unstoppable by defenses), Salvage 3rd level General Power (combined with Junk Armor and AP upgrades), Stealth Gadfly’s (makes Granger eat it) all combine to turn Deathstrike into the best GLA General in the game in my opinion. Playing him comes at the cost of Bomb Trucks, Battle Buses, Hijackers, Saboteurs, and Angry Mobs but the gains are enormous. Realistically Granger or Tao could have been given this slot, but Deathstrike gets it because he offers the most radical improvement over the base faction at the cost of some of the GLA uniqueness (most of it required tons of micro anyway). Number one Chinese general and only slightly inferior to Townes. Leang is so good in so many areas she is borderline overpowered (starting with Chain Guns, Black Napalm, and MiG Boosters is a little too much imo) but not invincible. Almost every unit in her arsenal is good in a certain way, from Ravage Tanks (Ravage Armour, Ramjet Shells) to Dragon Tanks (White Napalm & Firestorm Potential) to Sentinel Gatling Weapons (brutal versus air and surface at the same time) to her MiGs (White fire, starts with Boosters), to Blacksharks (absolutely brutal against anything ground), to Phoenix Bombers (the only air unit that beats AA groups convincingly), to Hammer Cannons, to Hellstorm Cannons (White Fire massacres attackers), to Grenadier Tank Hunters (defenses don’t matter). She does have notable weaknesses over normal China such as Coal Power Plants (less power, so they take up more space), lack of Propaganda, and lack of Horde Bonus but her strengths are huge and more than make up for these minor drawbacks. Leang is like China done American style, except better. His Laser Humvees (with Point Defense Battledrones), Laser Paladins, Railgun Artillery (absolutely brutal versus ground with Search and Destroy), Laser Commanches (brutal in groups), Laser Turrets & Fire bases, and Stealth Gunships (best defensive unit in the game imo) all combine to make him the best general. Given all his benefits, Townes really has few weaknesses over the basic USA faction. Townes is the best general in the game in my opinion because he has no dud units, amazing defense combined with good offense in both the land and air, and can be so easy at times he practically plays himself. I am aware that Shockwave is currently considered complete, and I am hoping this thread will bring to light some of the issues that remain before it can be considered completely done and inspire the design team. I have almost no online experience with this game, so everything here pertains strictly to Generals Challenge Mode. The following is my own personal opinion though I believe it is quite accurate as it comes religiously playing Shockwave for the past few years.
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